OME coils and shocks
Snorkel (photo later)
Tarted up the dash with fake wood trim, Kenwood head unit with Ipod control and Garmin street nav, scangauge, UHF CB, Prodigy brake controller....
It's an excellent tow vehicle. Nice and powerful and very smooth and comfortable.
Clearview Mirrors
I recently installed a pair of Clearview Mirrors.
http://www.clearviewmirrors.com.au/
They were very easy to install. The DVD, showing step by step, what to do was very good.
In the normal position they stick out 40cms from the glass.
In the extended towing position they are another 10 cms out at 50cms.
They are better than I expected in as much as I don't need to fold them in, in my garage, but I will in shopping centre carparks.
This is the extended position.
Driving with them is a revelation. There is just so much more to see. And what a pleasure it is to be looking through normal flat glass again. The bottom half, which can only be adjusted by hand, is convex and is excellent.
I used to get really peeved at trying to reverse the caravan with only convex mirrors; since fitting these mirrors I've had to back the van into several tight spots and it's so much easier now.
Stone Guards for the Vehicle
I had previously made some larger removeable mudflaps for the vehicle in an attempt to suppress the amount of stones that were thrown up onto the front of the van. I bought some large rubber mudflaps from Truckline but the hot air from the exhaust caused heat damage in a very short time.
So I had to come up with something that would not be affected by the heat (and I didn't want to put anything behind the exhaust because the whole setup had to be easily removeable without me getting under the vehicle).
The supporting main cross member is made from 32mm (3mm thick) alloy square section. I bolted it to the Reese hitch with a U bolt.
Where I previously had the rubber mudflap, I now fitted a woven steel wire floormat from Bunnings. The mudflap was 60cm X 60cm but this was 60X40 so I got some alloy flatplate to fill in the gap. The steel rod you can see was bought from Truckline to stop the rubber mudflaps from blowing upwards when driving. They are not really necessary with the wire floormat, but I had them and so I put them in place.
This is the setup from the rear and you can see how that "anti-flapper" keeps everything in the right place. Each side piece slips into the 32mm square tube on the Reese hitch.
Here's the finished product in place on the Reese hitch.
Each side is kept in place with a tent peg and an R clip. This allows easy disassembly and storage.
The exhaust still points at the stone suppressor but I don't think the heat will be an issue for the steel wire floormat now in place.
January 2013: traded the GXL in on a new Sahara.
